Gyroscopic horizon



` Q. E, EsvAL Gmoscorro Hoarzon Filad March 30..l 1940 INVENTOR Fel 23, 1943@ Q, E, ESVAL 2,311,652

GYRSCOPIC HORIZON Filed March 20, A1940 3-,Shea'-Sheet 2 rIIIIIIIII INVENTOR l RLA/vp E fst/ALI Feb. 23, 1943. o. E. EsvAx. 2,311,652

GYROSCOPIC HORIZON Filed March 20, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 pfff! l l GD Z" F/a@ 2# INVENTOR OHM/v0 Erl/AL,

Patented Feb. 23, 1943 2,311,652 Graoscorlc nomzon Orland E. Esval, Allendale, N. J., assignor to Spenry Gyroscope Company, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 20, 1940, Serial No. 324,957

(Cl. 'Z4-5) retain the present air erection device, utilizing the current of air generated by the spin of thev rotor for the erection device without employing l any impeller on the rotor.

Another object or the invention is to secure a more compact structure in which a goodly portion of the erection device is housed within the body of the rotor casing.

.A further object of the invention is to improve the method of leading in three-phase supply to the rotor through the gimbal axes.

Referring to the drawings showing the form of the invention now preferred:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my artiiicial horizon with the casing broken away to show the interior.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the gimbal trunnion, taken approximately on line 2--2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a detail showing the hair spring used to lead in one phase of the supply at each gimbal axis.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the gyroscope, taken substantially on line 4--4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detailed section o( the lower portion oi.' the casing taken on a 45 angle to Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal detailed section taken on line @-6 oi Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation, partly in section, of the lower portion oi the gyro casing viewed from the leftin Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a section viewed from below, taken approximately on line 8-8 of Fig. 4.

My artificial horizon or gyro-vertical may be constructed in the conventional form, being shown as housed within an outer casing I having a iront window 2 through which the horizon bar 3, which is stabilized about both horizontal axes of the gyro, may be viewed. Said bar is pivoted in the usual manner at I to the rear of a gimbal ring 5, the bar hence moving with the gimbal about the fore and aft maior trunnion axis 6-6 o1' the gimbal ring. Up and down movement is imparted to the bar in the usual manner by a pin I extending laterally from the rotor casing 8 of the gyroscope through a slot in the gimbai ring 5, and extending through a horizontal slot- (not shown) in a rearward extension oi' the 55 bar 3. The rotor casing 8 is, in turn, pivotally mounted on a normally horizontal trunnion axis 9-9 within the gimbal ring 5. Within the rotor casing 8 is journaled therotor l0 on a vertical shzft II and upper and lower rotor bearings I2 an I2.

The rotor preferably is joined to the shaft only by a central web I3, the rim of the rotor extending a substantial distance above and below the web. The upper portion of the rim is shown as enclosing a three-phase stator I4 oi an induction motor for spinning the same. For simplicity, a. squirrel cage, as such, is not employed on the inner face of the rim of the rotor, but a thin ring of copper I 'I is secured to said face instead.

The lower overhang of the rotor is shown as housing a goodly portion or the erection mechanisrn employed for the gyroscope. For this purpose, the bottom cap I6 of the casing 8 has a ring I8 therein extending upwardly within the rotor. Said ring is provided with two pairs of upstanding ears I9 and 20. One pair I9 pivotally supports small pendulums 2I and 2I' on bearings 22 well within the connues of the rotor overhang and above the lower rotor bearings I 2'. Said pendulums are cross connected by member 23, having a hole therein Aoi larger diameter than the rotor shaft I I to permit clearance. The other pair or ears 20 pivotally supports a second pair of pendulums 24 and 24 which are cross connected by a U-shaped member 25 also provided with a clearance hole for the shaft Il. The pendulums pass through clearance slots 40' in plate IS. Preferably, the pivots 22 for the pendulums 2I and 2 I' and pivots 2B for the outer pair of pendulums 24 and 24' lie in the same horizontal plane.

The bottom plate I6 is also provided with a downward central extension 21 which houses the lower bearing I2' and which has therein two pairs of air. ports 28 and 29 with which the knife edges 30 on the lower portions of the several pendulums cooperate. To -this end, the lower portion of the extension 2l is made hollow, being closed at the lower end by a plug 3|. Air under moderate pressure is supplied to the interior thereof from the rotor. For this purpose, I place on the Interior of the housing or casing 8 a continuous spiral rib 32 which receives the air drawn in through inclined holes 5I in the top of the casing near the bearing housing and thrown tangentially from the smooth periphery of the rotor. and directs it downwardly to the bottom of the casing. whence it is discharged through inclined openings 33 in the bottom thereof. connecting with passageways 3l in channel blocks I5 leading down- FICE blades thereon which render the balancing operation diilicult. In addition. the air entering through the inner holes 54 circulates over the stator windings and therefore helps cool the same.

Three-phase current is shown as being led into the gyroscope in a novel manner. One ,lead is led into the gimbal ring by providing the end of the trimnion 8 with a pointed hardened metallic button 31 with which a. spring arm 3l secured to the iixed bracket 39 lightly contacts. Button 31 has connected thereto an 'insulated wire S0 which leads to a. similar hat spring 44 on the minor axis of the gimbal. Another lead is led through a slmilar spring arm 38' and contact 31' on the opposite trunnion 6, the contact being connected by wire 50' to spring 44'. 'I'he third lead is carried through the trunnion axis by means of a light hair spring 40 connected at one end to the fixed terminal 4i and at the other end to a wire 42 on the gimbal ring which is soldered at one end to metal disc 43'. Said spring is shown as coiled between said metallic disc 43 and an insulating collar and disc 48 mounted on the trunnion 4. The current may likewise be led through the mlnor trunnion axes 9 9 by the two at springs 44 and 44' xed to the gimbal ring and which contact with hardened contact points 45 and 45' on the end of the trunnions'48 projecting from the sides of the casing 8. The third lead may similarly be carried through a coiled hair spring 41. From these points wires 52 and 5I lead Within the rotor case to the stator windings.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely dinerent embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a gyro-vertical, a rotor casing, a rotor having a central web connecting the same to a normally vertical shaft journalled in the casing, an overhang of the rotor extending from the top and bottom of the central web, an electrical stator for spinning the rotor disposed within the top overhang, an air erection pendulum device supported by the casing and extending within the bottom overhang, and means ior directing the air thrown from the periphery oi the spinning rotor into said erection device.

2. In an air erected gyro-vertical, a rotor casing, a rotor having a substantially central web connecting the same to a normally vertical shaft journalledin the casing, an overhang of the rotor extending from the bottom of the substantially central web, a plurality of pendulous shutters pivoted on said casing within the rotor overhang and extending below said casing through aper- Y tures provided in the bottom thereof, and a hollow extension on the bottom of said casing having ports therein with which the shutters cooperate.

3. A gyra-vertical as claimed in claim 1, in which the pivotal axes of the pendulous shutters are located above the lower journalled portion of the rotor shaft.

ORLAND E. ESVAL.

Pten'nm 2,511,652.

CjERTIFIQATE oF coRREcTomv February 255.1915,

oRLANn E. EsvA-L.

.nd thatthe said Letters Patent should be read with this correction there- Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of' Patents.

'-pten'ro. 2,511,652.

C ERTIFIQATE 0F coRREcTior: l

v February 25,' *191;5..

ORLAN'D E. EsvA-L.

ofthe above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: APage 2, second co1umn,'. line`52, claim 5, for-'the words "in claim l" read --in clamZ--g Henry Van Arsdale, (Se'al) Acting Commissioner of' Patents. 

